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Girl Meets Rileytown
Girl Meets Rileytown is the seventeenth episode in season 2 of Girl Meets World and the 38th episode overall. It aired on September 25, 2015 to 2.6 million viewers. Overview When Riley lashes out at Maya over an innocent comment, Farkle suspects there's something serious going on behind Riley's oversensitivity. Plot Riley pretends to be sick to stay home from school, but Maya notices she's more upset than sick. When trying to find out what has Riley so down, Maya mentions "Rileytown", the made-up land where all of Riley's goofiness and happiness comes from. Angered, Riley pushes Maya away, demanding she stop being a bully. Riley complains she wants to quit being weird, and become the girl nobody notices. In class, Cory tells the students about the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, and Riley and Maya continue their argument about whether or not Maya is being a bully. Riley decides that, like Burr and Hamilton, she and Maya are also having a "conflict" and challenges Maya to a duel, which she accepts, much to Cory's chagrin. They have their duel at Topanga's using nearly-expired ice cream. As they're about to fire, Maya hands her ice cream to Cory, but Riley stuffs her ice cream cone in Maya's face and storms out. The gang wonders what happened to cause the big change in Riley when Farkle suddenly has a realization; after sending Zay and Lucas out of the room he confides in Maya that he believes someone is bullying Riley in a manner very similar to when he was bullied by Billy Ross; he tells Maya that Riley's actions are her way of pleading with Maya to listen to her. Realizing Farkle is right, Maya runs to Riley back at the bay window; the two argue again, but Riley eventually opens up, albeit vaguely, describing how an unreasonable girl (whose name Riley does not reveal) keeps sending her threatening texts; humiliated and in tears, Riley also reveals that the harassment has been going on for a few weeks. She then apologizes for stuffing the ice cream in Maya's face, for which Maya promises retribution saying "You're never going to see it coming." Back at Topanga's, Farkle tells Lucas what's going on with Riley, and explains that he tied him up with towels for fear that he might turn back into "Texas Lucas". Without a word, Lucas angrily breaks the towel racks holding him in place and treads to the bay window where he effortlessly pushes down the barricade that Riley and Maya put up over the window to keep him out; Farkle and Zay arrive shortly afterward. Indignant that Riley didn't come to him, Lucas reminds her that the whole point of having friends is so she doesn't have to go it alone; Farkle backs up Lucas' words and then reminds her of how she pressed him to open up about his own situation. The next day in class, Cory reveals that he knows something is going on with Riley, which Maya confirms. While Cory respects Riley's privacy he also tells her it's okay to ask for help if she needs to. He then cautions the others, especially Maya and Lucas, to go about handling the situation the right way; he states that even though Burr bested Hamilton in their duel, he never held political office again and is remembered only for killing Hamilton. The four later go back to Topanga's, where Riley tells how the bully sent her a secret video of Riley doing something that even Maya was unaware of: hosting a private awards show at school in the empty hallway after everyone else had left; the bully has threatened to share the video with everyone else at school. Riley decides that she needs to face her bully in person, and Maya and the others all swear they have her back. The next day in the school hallway after class, Riley has her confrontation with the girl, who remains unseen and unheard; while Riley acknowledges some of the quirky things she does, she doesn't care what others think because it's who she is. She then neutralizes the bully's threat of sharing the secret video by performing her "Riley Awards" ceremony in front of all her friends, who show up behind her. Pretending to be 'British Riley', she announces that Riley has won the award for not only facing her fear, but doing so in front of everyone. The girl is heard walking away, and Maya observes her response by saying, "Look, Riles. The farther away she goes, the smaller she gets." They all celebrate back at Topanga's with a "Riley Awards After Party", where everyone is enjoying an ice cream cone, especially Maya, whose cone has six scoops! Cast Main cast *Rowan Blanchard as Riley Matthews *Ben Savage as Cory Matthews *Sabrina Carpenter as Maya Hart *Peyton Meyer as Lucas Friar *Corey Fogelmanis as Farkle Minkus *Danielle Fishel as Topanga Matthews Guest cast *Amir Mitchell-Townes as Zay Babineaux Absent cast *August Maturo as Auggie Matthews Quotes International Premieres * April 4, 2016 (Israel) * May 20, 2016 (Poland) * May 27, 2016 (Philippines) * June 23, 2016 (Latin America, Brazil) Trivia *The bully in this episode, a female according to Riley, is neither seen nor heard (except for the sound of footsteps walking away). There is much online speculation that the bully could be Missy Bradford, Riley's arch-nemesis in the season one episode Girl Meets Sneak Attack. Added to which, the episode may have been geared specifically toward certain viewers who endeavored to post derisive (and in some cases despicable) remarks about Riley and about Rowan Blanchard herself; Blanchard later stated in an interview that the fact that she herself was actually being bullied was a primary reason the episode was filmed. *The scene where Riley confronts the bully in person borrows from a production technique called "breaking the fourth wall", in which the viewer is made an active participant in the scene by the actor(s) looking directly into the camera as the scene plays out. Riley and the others, however, do not look directly into the camera lens (if you follow their eyes, you'll notice that Riley's attention is focused on an unseen person just to the right- your left- of the camera); to wit, the way this scene unfolds suggests that the viewer is standing right next to the bully. *August Maturo (Auggie Matthews) does not appear in this episode. *Maya and Riley made a flag and anthem for "Rileytown." (a lyrical variation on the Christmas carol "O Tannenbaum") *First time Zay asks why Maya, Lucas, and Farkle come into Riley's room through the bay window. The second time is in Girl Meets Rah Rah. *This is the second episode of the series covering the topic of bullying after Girl Meets Flaws. Farkle even references these events while sympathizing with Riley. *According to GMW creator Michael Jacobs, Cory's lesson about Friendship and Growth are, respectively, the themes for the first two seasons of Girl Meets World. *It is revealed Riley holds a secret award ceremony for herself on Fridays after school. However, seeing as Maya and Riley are practically inseparable, especially after school and on weekends, one can't help but wonder how Maya was unaware of this. *Most of Cory's previously unidentified students which he named, (Jade, Wyatt, Haley, Jeffrey , and Clarissa) were named for the actual actors who portrayed them. *References from Girl Meets Flaws and Girl Meets Cory and Topanga are used. *Farkle uses the ping-pong ball gun that was last seen in Girl Meets Rules on Lucas and Zay. *This is the first time Riley cries on-screen. *Lucas is referred to as Texas Lucas and Farkle says he knows what he was like back in Texas. (Girl Meets the Secret of Life) This is the second time Lucas shows his Texas side, after Girl Meets the Secret of Life. Gallery Transcript Videos Girl Meets World 2x17 "Girl Meets Rileytown" Promo Disney Channel Friday Night (9 25 15) Category:Episodes Category:Season 2 episodes Category:Season 2 Category:Aired episodes